


broken vows

by orphan_account



Category: Reign (TV)
Genre: 7DOF, F/M, FRARY YASS, better yet angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 04:20:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1674482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He stays on his knees and watches her. "She told me she'd wait for me." [Day 3 of 7 Days of Frary: favorite angst moment.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	broken vows

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 7 Days of Frary, day 3: favorite angst moment. I'm just going to post these out of order since um my tumblr is currently broken. enjoy, friends!

When Francis leaves the throne room, fresh out of a new but frustrating as ever conversation with his father, his gaze immediately seeks out Mary. _Damn_ him for being so drawn to her, especially after she showed her true feelings for his brother, but there was an undeniable pull that he can’t resist even after all these new revelations.

He furrows his brow as he continues scanning the hallway, but with no sign of Mary. She is not lingering in the halls, or staring outside the windows, or conversing with any passing courtiers. She's nowhere to be found.

He turns to one of the guards that was standing in front of the throne room. “Did you see where Mary Queen of Scots last went?”

“She passed by the window in the direction of the stables not ten minutes ago, Your Grace,” the guard replies, lowering his eyes. Francis turns to the window, as if Mary would still be there, and sees the lake they’d stood by only a few weeks ago. Almost as if in a dream, he starts walking down the hall, picking up the pace until he’s running through the castle and across the courtyard to the stables.

 _Would you want this?_  Did she know she was throwing her words back in his face, a cruel mockery of her soft promise? Was she doing this to punish him for Olivia, for closing the door in her face the very first day, or any other slight she might’ve suffered at his hands?

Or… for a moment, Francis envisions Mary in the stables with Bash. Mary, laughing with Bash at his expense. Mary, freely smiling at Bash. Mary and Bash running away, Mary and Bash alone _together_ \--

A fleeting panic rushes through him, wrapping around his chest and crushing his ribcage. Francis reaches the stables, wishing his mouth isn’t so dry so he could speak without sounding as alarmed as he feels.

“My lord?” a groom asks, eyes widening. “I mean - Your Grace, are you all right?”

“Mary Stuart,” Francis manages, his eyes roving over the stables. They are filled with horses, but no Mary. Where was Mary? “Where is she?”

“She told me she was going on a ride, Your Grace,” the groom replied. “Last I saw, she was leading her horse out with Sebastian’s to the castle gates.”

Francis moves before the groom finishes, and he hears the groom call after him - and soon, the groom is running after him, too, heading straight for the castle gates. _Why? Why would she leave?_

The gates are open, and he can see Mary already mounted on a horse - with Bash, _damn_ him, damn him to Hell ( _you were my brother_ ) - and Bash is swinging his leg over his horse, ready to go. Her name leaves his mouth without him intending to shout after her; his voice is desperate, and he hates himself for going against his own rules and ( _You knew she was a bad idea, you knew it, but you fell anyway, you damn fool_ ) allowing himself to grow close to her.

“Mary!” he calls, running faster than he knew he could. If I can just reach her before she goes… “Mary, please, wait!”

Mary turns around, and for a moment, the green leaves around her are like a halo, and for a moment, he deludes himself into thinking that she’ll dismount. He hopes against every fiber of reason in his soul that she’ll be in his arms again and he would forgive her and she him and all would be just as it was before Bash, before Olivia - 

But then Mary turns around, her heels kicking into her horse; and she’s riding away from him with Bash at her side. _  
_

Francis slides to an abrupt halt, unaware of the shock and hurt that are plain across his features, and watches the back of Mary’s head, still half-hoping she would stop and turn her horse around. Still half-hoping that the kiss with Bash had truly been a mistake, rather than a genuine show of feelings.

Mary doesn’t turn around, and the anxiety that had driven him forward clamps down over his chest. Chest heaving, Francis looks down at the ground, then back up. His words repeat over and over in his mind. _Don’t give up. Don’t run. Stay..._

She’d grabbed his hand. She’d agreed to give the Auld Alliance - to give him - a chance. And now she was throwing it all away for a shot at happiness with Bash. Francis keeps his eyes on Mary’s head, even as the pressure in his chest grows tighter and he falls to his knees.

 _She told me she’d wait for me_ , he thinks, and stays on his knees until Mary and Bash are no longer visible.


End file.
